Enhanced Graphics option gives uncompetitive Zoom

[SalamanderRobot]

As @KanyeTWest mentioned, this is due to the fact that the enhanced graphics are in fact the same images with more resolution, so taking more space on the screen.

Here is an image posted by one of the developer explaining this:

@Neros1700

The UHD texture pack contains double resolution sprites, this is intended to make the scaling for UHD screens (4k+) look a bit more sensible.

The end result is that if you get the UHD textures on a 1080p screen you will effectively have less zoom range because all the sprites will take up more screen space.

So there are no new or changed graphics in the UHD pack, they are just bigger (and take up more memory which can be a performance hit for some systems). Some people like them even for 1080p screens and that’s totally fine as well.

Compared to most recent games, AoE2 DE (like AoE1 DE) is in fact not 3D but 2D, which causes this issue. More information about the graphics can be found here (for AoE1 DE, but it is similar for AoE2 DE).

On a personal note, I play with enhanced graphics at 1080p (fully zoomed out). I see a bit less than someone without the enhanced graphics, but this is not a real issue when playing with hotkeys, control groups… But having a game more zoomed in also adds a huge advantage for speed, accuracy (farms placement, units micro…).
This is of course just my personal preference